1. Field
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a door opening device and a refrigerator having the same which enables a user to easily open the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in the case of a large capacity refrigerator, a door to open and close a storage compartment is large and heavy, so a relatively large physical force is required to open the door. Especially when the pressure difference between the inside of the storage compartment and the outside is large due to a sharp temperature drop in the storage compartment, more physical force is required to open the door. Accordingly, a recent tendency is that the refrigerator is equipped with a door opening device which enables a user to easily open the door by pushing the door in the opening direction when the user intends to open the door.
Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-40436 discloses a refrigerator equipped with a door opening device. The disclosed refrigerator is a side-by-side refrigerator, which has storage compartments partitioned at both sides, and a left door and a right door to open and close the respective storage compartments. The door opening device includes a driving motor which is rotated in a forward direction, and a reverse direction and a main cam which is rotated by the driving motor. The door opening device further includes a first sub-cam which is operated by the main cam to open the left door and a second sub-cam which is operated by the main cam to open the right door.
When the driving motor is driven to rotate the main cam in a clockwise direction, the first sub-cam is operated to open the left door. When the driving motor is driven to rotate the main cam in a counterclockwise direction, the second sub-cam is operated to open the right door.
However, the above conventional door opening device has a problem that the driving motor should be rotated twice to open one door, i.e., the process of rotating the motor in a first direction (the forward direction) to rotate the main cam and the process of rotating the motor in a second direction (the reverse direction) to return the main cam to an initial position after the door is opened. In other words, the driving motor has to be rotated in the first direction and subsequently rotated in the second direction. Accordingly, the driving motor is driven frequently, and the resulting lifespans of the driving motor and the relay controlling the driving motor are shortened.
Further, when opening one door (a first door) and consecutively opening the other door (a second door), the conventional door opening device performs the process of rotating the driving motor in the first direction to open the first door, the process of reverse rotating the driving motor in the second direction to return to the initial position, the process of further rotating the driving motor in the second direction to open the second door, and the process of rotating the driving motor in the first direction to return to the initial position. Accordingly, the doors cannot be opened swiftly because of the multiple operational stages of the driving motor.